Zombie

Zombie came out in Nigeria in 1976 on Coconut Records, with a UK release through Creole Records in 1977, and it is two side-long pieces by Fela Kuti and his band Africa 70: the title track at 12:26 and “Mister Follow Follow” at 12:58. The title track is the one with the metaphor. Fela describes the Nigerian military as zombies, soldiers who follow orders without thinking, and the music does the rest by refusing to hurry – a groove that behaves like a parade that never stops.

The record’s aftermath is the reason it is remembered as more than a great album. On February 18, 1977, roughly a thousand soldiers attacked and burned Fela’s compound, the Kalakuta Republic. According to the Wikipedia entry on the album, his studio, instruments and master recordings were destroyed; his mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was thrown from a window, and the Kalakuta Republic entry records that she died after about eight weeks in a coma. The album’s entry ties the attack to its political message, and the Kalakuta Republic entry adds that the song angered General Olusegun Obasanjo, then Nigeria’s head of state.

The record’s standing has only grown: in 2025 it became the first Nigerian album inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. What makes it worth revisiting on a Thursday devoted to the Rock Hall class is how plainly it shows the case for the Early Influence category – a record whose form and politics were the same decision, made at a length no pop single would have been allowed to run.

Greatest of All Time. A twelve-minute chant about obedience, followed by the very attack it described.

Hero image: “Zombie” album cover art, Coconut Records. Used under fair use for editorial commentary.